How To Be Addy (a pictorial step-by-step instructional guide)

1. Do something naughty, like digging holes in the agility practice area

2. When The Food Lady tells you off, blow her a raspberry

3. Immediately regret your impulsive sassiness

4. Decide to laugh the whole thing off

Bonus 5. If concerned that you are the only one laughing, distract The Food Lady by tackling her at top speed with wet and muddy paws

No matter how naughty she is (and Addy is VERY VERY naughty) she never fails to make me laugh. There are times when I have to turn my head away and giggle into my sleeve when I am giving her shit for something lest she see me. I am so very happy she is no worse for wear after the rat poison incident.

And speaking of shit, riddle me this: yesterday the dogs and I spent pretty much the entire day outside. I built a small brooder house and pen for my week old mistral gris (them’s For-Eatin’ Chickens for you city folk) which took me all day as I am not much of a handywoman/carpenter. Then around dinner time we played ball for an hour. Then we came inside and we all had dinner. Then I spent about a half hour outside locking up all the chickens and ducks for the night. Came back inside the house and found three little piles of poop on the floor. WHY??? Was 7 hours outside insufficient time for pooping? Harumph.

Then later that evening, PEETIE pooped on the living floor right in front of me. Srsly, these dogs, I swear.

In other Peetie news, I found her “on” switch and now I can’t turn it off!

As it happens, I *can* build drive in a dog (not Italian greyhounds though). Maybe too well. Now ALL THE TOYS ARE BELONG TO PEETIE.

She chases every ball or frisbee, no matter for whom the toy is thrown. She’ll take dogs out and send them ass over tea kettle in her quest to get there first. Most dogs have figured out to keep one eye on the ball, and one eye on her and get out of the way quick. But not everydog. Poor DoDo.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!?!

I love the new and improved Peetie, though the carsickness had failed to get any better. I am not sure if the other dogs like the new and improved toy-crazy Peetie though.

It’s like looking in a mirror, isn’t it Dexter? A younger, svelter, less weird mirror.

Although to be fair, everyone harasses Dexter at play time. Probably because he just takes it.

Except for the terriers, who prefer to bother one another in weird and physics-bending ways.

And Wootie, who has eyes only for bothering Piper.

DoDo likes to play ball / frisbee and likes to hang off Dexter’s ruff too, whichever is available.

She is an interesting puppy. Much like Peetie, she has all this untapped drive – but unlike Peetie she is not shut down, but rather obnoxious about it. Today whilst letting the dogs outside one by one through the babygate (to prevent free form chaos) she bit me in the toe when I used my leg to body block her from running through when it wasn’t her turn. Little turd! When she first arrived she came with the following “issues”:

barked in crate at 5AM, demanding a walk. Fixed that. Grouchy Food Lady is grouchy in the morning. Now she stays quietly in her crate until I let her out.

Played keep away when called. Fixed that. Hard to play keep away on a long line, when The Food Lady will reel you in like a swordfish. She doesn’t even have to wear the long line now and comes running at top speed when called.

Fussy about her food/anorexic. Fixed that. Lots of daily exercise builds a good appetite.

Wasn’t food motivated / refused to eat kibble. Fixed that. Now she’d eat sticks or cardboard as cookies if I offered her one. Loves to perform for food now.

I think sometimes people underestimate poodles’ capacity for having boundless energy (Gemma not included in this statement). Maybe little toy poodles are lazy things, I dunno, but DoDo is a Moyen poodle and she is bouncing off the walls energetic and needs somewhere to put it. Running with a pack of collies every day is a good place to put it. And she really just needs some boundaries and some manners, which she is quickly developing here. In her first couple of days she chased the chickens, and the rooster chased her right back and she ran SCREECHING from the hen yard, while I laughed and laughed. She has also learned to pick blackberries off the plant rather than stand around pathetically whining while everyone else feasts. I think she’s just not had very many rules in her life. Her owner says he bikes to work with her every day (she’s in a trailer) and she barks the whole way. She tried barking in my car for like 30 seconds and I turned around, gave her the stink eye, and told her in no uncertain terms how lovely an orange poodle mat would look in my kitchen and she’s been quiet ever since. She’s not stupid!

This is pretty stupid.

Kidding, kidding! You know I love me some Dexter, crappy agility dog though he may be. He’s a special blend of .. special. And he will be seven years old in 12 days. SEVEN!! I don’t even know how that happened!

Then there’s Winter. He actually is kinda stupid ;-)

In other completely unrelated news, I am thinking of getting/raising some turkeys. I don’t have any yet, so there are no photos of them. Instead, here’s a photo of her royal tiny highness FaeFae, contemplating ways to murder dogs who get the ball before she does (buh bye Peetie and DoDo!).

I loved my turkeys. I need some again. You make me laugh. So do your dogs. I love them all! But how did you get DoDo food motivated? I have two big lugs that are not food motivated one bit (unless it’s the other guys supper) and life would be so much easier if they were!

I’m getting ready to butcher my last turkey this weekend.. it’s been interesting having them. Theyy have amusing personalities – especially the toms, which are utterly ridiculous – but they can also be fussy, needy, noisy nuisances. And your yard will be full of turkey shit. Sooo much turkey shit…

After also trying everything for car sickness, my vet gave my poodle (who is also a Moyen, like Dodo!) a prescription for Cerenia and IT WORKED! We haven’t had puke in the car since — and we’ve been doing a lot of out of town hikes this summer. Last week was 14 miles of the worst, bumpiest, most horrible forest road we’ve ever been on and he was fine. He still drools but no more puke! I recommend! (Note – the vet says 2 pills prior to travel, but I’ve cut it down to one pill and it still works. Much better since they are pretty expensive.)